Rajesh
Hattangady got his company ISO 9001: 2008 certified to ensure quality and
customer focus and it seems to have paid off well.
Although
Rajesh could have joined his family’s chemical business after he graduated, he
decided to do pursue his own dreams. Ironically, his inclination towards
financial products grew after his father became a victim of mis-selling.
Rajesh
started as a distributor for Birla Sun Life Insurance. Though it was a sales job,
Rajesh had decided from day one that he will not mis-sell any product to meet
company’s targets. Initially, to acquire clients, Rajesh used to put up canopies
near IT parks. However, they could not draw the crowd. Then Rajesh started distributing
leaflets after crumpling them. These crumpled leaflets created curiousity and people
started opening them and with that began his journey to success.
He
took up mutual fund distribution during 2004 under his company THiiNK. Around
the same time Aditya Birla Money opened its office in Thane. He gave them applications
worth Rs 2 crore on the inauguration day of the branch office!
Rajesh
is a community financial counsellor for Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund. He offers
financial counselling and solutions to groups like SMEs, doctors, lawyers, etc
who share common concerns. “SMEs have their unique problems in running their
businesses. We advice them on how to retain employees through provident fund,
gratuity, etc. We also help them manage their working capital needs effectively.
We also take cognisance of employee’s problems and present them to the
management and offer a win-win solution for both the management and the
workforce,” says Rajesh Hattangady, Founder of THiiNK.
In
2009, when entry loads were banned and most distributors were devising ways to
sustain their business, Rajesh got his company ISO 9001:2008 certified from BM
TRADA UK.
Getting ISO certification has ingrained quality in management and processes and
brought a customer focus in his practise. “My office can operate 90% optimally
if I’m not present in office. We have documented everything. Nothing can be
misplaced in our office. We have kept a register in our office where we record
what time client first met us. We seek their feedback and comments in visitors
register. Clients only come after prior appointment in our office. We have set
certain standards for everything, for instance, minimum qualification of
employees, code of conduct, etc.,” says Rajesh.
His
office is audited every year by an internal and external auditor. Rajesh
records even the minutest errors taking place in his office so that his team
members can prevent them in future. His office is so well designed that
sometimes clients just come to sit in his office even if they have no work. “They
ask me ‘Rajesh agar main apke office main
baithu to koi problem to nahi? humko yahan accha lagta hai (Rajesh can I
sit in your office for sometime if you don’t mind, I like your office),” he
says.
Having
ISO certification has certainly helped his company establish a certain trust among
his existing and prospective clients. “Clients know that we stand for certain
standards and ethics,” he says.
Rajesh
has a team of three out of which one of them is CFP certified. “I want to train
my team in such a way that they can be future entrepreneurs,” says Rajesh. His
company caters to more than 1000 clients across mutual funds, life and general
insurance from India
and abroad. His goal is to achieve Rs 100 crore in retail assets.
Rajesh is a shining example of how advisors can instil professional practices in their profession to race ahead in these challenging times.